Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the workings of the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is currently considering the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s report on ‘Enforcing the Equality Act: the law and the role of the EHRC’, which includes recommendations relating to the Public Sector Equality Duty. We will be responding to this report in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House when they intend to proceed with the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill [HL]; and whether they will lay a carry-over motion for that bill before the end of the current session.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government currently has no plans to proceed with the Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Bill (HL), nor any plans to lay a carry-over motion before the end of the current session.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with care providers following the abuse of patients with learning disabilities at Whorlton Hall hospital filmed by the BBC's Panorama programme, aired on 22 May.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government has had no discussions on this matter with care providers directly. The Care Quality Commission, the independent inspectorate of hospitals and adult care homes, has commissioned an independent review of its inspection and regulatory approach to Whorlton Hall, which should inform work to ensure the appropriate oversight of care provided to people with a learning disability.
On 21 May 2019, I laid a written statement (HLWS1533) in which it was announced that the National Health Service would be strengthening its existing oversight arrangements. Where someone with a learning disability and/or autism is an inpatient out of area they will be visited every six weeks if they are a child and every eight weeks if they are an adult, on site. The host clinical commissioning group will also be given new responsibilities to oversee and monitor the quality of care for hospitals in their local areas.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to decrease waiting times for Personal Independence Payment tribunal appeals.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
It is important that appeals are heard as quickly as possible. The Ministry of Justice recognises that there are delays in the system and is in the process of recruiting more judicial office holders in order to increase capacity and help to reduce waiting times for appellants. In the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction, 225 new medical members and 119 disability-qualified members have recently been appointed and are now hearing cases. The SSCS jurisdiction will also benefit from the fact that 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely. In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with a view to enabling speedier processing of appeals and providing a better service for all parties to the proceedings.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to offer screening for malnutrition at GP surgeries and pharmacies in England.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. Using research evidence, pilot programmes and economic evaluation, it assesses the evidence for programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria.
The UK NSC has not reviewed the evidence to screen for malnutrition, however the Committee welcomes new topic proposals via its annual call for topics which opens each year from September to December.
The UK NSC has published its evidence review process online on GOV.UK, which includes how to submit a new topic proposal.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of appointing a clinical lead for nutrition for the NHS in England.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
NHS England and NHS Improvement have a lead Nutrition and Hydration Specialist in Quality Improvement. Their work focusses on building collaboratives to improve nutrition and hydration within providers.
In addition, Public Health England’s (PHE) Chief Nutritionist provides leadership and strategic oversight on key priority areas of diet, nutrition, obesity and physical activity to PHE, the Department and other Government departments.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they estimate that NICE will publish the outcome of the NICE Evaluation Committee meeting held on 6 March.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Departmental officials are in regular contact with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England about a range of issues, including progress in discussions about a potential managed access agreement for Spinraza (nusinersen). Ministers have also held meetings with Biogen, NICE and NHS England on a number of occasions, at which the availability of Spinraza was discussed.
NHS England and NICE have made stakeholders and the public aware of the outcome of its appraisal committee meeting and NICE is now able to recommend the use of Spinraza for National Health Service patients in England, subject to a managed access agreement agreed between NHS England and Biogen. The final appraisal document will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) NICE, (2) NHS England, and (3) Biogen, on a Managed Access Agreement for Spinal Muscular Atrophy treatment, Spinraza.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
Departmental officials are in regular contact with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England about a range of issues, including progress in discussions about a potential managed access agreement for Spinraza (nusinersen). Ministers have also held meetings with Biogen, NICE and NHS England on a number of occasions, at which the availability of Spinraza was discussed.
NHS England and NICE have made stakeholders and the public aware of the outcome of its appraisal committee meeting and NICE is now able to recommend the use of Spinraza for National Health Service patients in England, subject to a managed access agreement agreed between NHS England and Biogen. The final appraisal document will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 29 April (HL15269), what existing forums they were engaged with on the design of the feasibility test for a single assessment for Employment and Support Allowance/Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
We committed to working with stakeholders to inform our approach to Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reform in the Improving Lives Command Paper published in 2017 and have been engaging on this broader issue through a number of forums. This has included our Policy Forum, a small group involving academics, think tanks and a number of disability charities.
Specifically, on the single assessment, we are currently gathering evidence to support the design of the feasibility test and will be involving stakeholders to inform this in the coming months. The outcomes from the feasibility test will enable us to establish if a single assessment would improve the customer journey and deliver quality and accurate outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have opened consultation on merging Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance assessments; and if not, when they intend to do so.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
In their responses to the 2016 Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper consultation and through several other forums, stakeholders have raised concerns about the feeling of duplication across the current assessment processes. We have therefore been exploring options to reduce this, and make improvements to the customer experience. By testing the feasibility of a single assessment for Employment and Support Allowance/Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment we can seek to understand if it will improve the assessment process for our customers, and ensure that they still get the right decision.
The design of the feasibility test will be informed by existing evidence and through our continued engagement with external stakeholders and disabled people themselves using existing forums, between now and over the course of Summer 2019. Beyond this we are continuing to work with stakeholders on other improvements to the assessment process, including the introduction of an integrated service, and reform of the Work Capability Assessment.